Don't Reset
by ThePoeticWeirdo
Summary: Frisk freed all the monsters. He should be happy, but instead he's bored. One reset couldn't hurt...
1. Chapter 1

**I don't know how I didn't realize that some of the paragraphs were moving to new lines mid-sentence. I don't know how that happened and I am sorry. Well, hopefully this fixes it.**

 **I do not own Undertale. Frisk is a boy in this fanfiction because I cannot call a single person a "They" without remembering one of my English teachers telling me that that isn't proper English.**

Frisk was bored. He should have been happy with his life, with his group of monster friends and position of ambassador to the other humans. He should have been excited, but after a few months, he had gotten tired of Toriel's pies and Alphys's anime and all the ambassador meetings. Tired and bored.

"Goodnight, my child," said Toriel as she turned off the light in his bedroom. She blew him a kiss and then closed the door and left him alone with his boredom.

Frisk sighed. "Really, I'd rather fight Undyne again than go through this same, stupid routine one more time," he grumbled. Frisk chuckled to himself, remembering the long, painful fight with the captain of the royal guard. Still, he was so sick of the same things happening day after day that his perilous journey through the Underground actually didn't seem that scary. Actually, it seemed attractive enough to even disregard Flowey's advice to not reset everything.

As he thought about it, the phantom button appeared in front of him, practically begging to be pressed. Eh, one reset couldn't hurt anyone. He'd get his monster friends back to the surface and get a little adventure out of it at the same time. Then, maybe he'd feel less bored. With a shrug and no second thoughts, Frisk hit the button and everything went dark.

Frisk blinked in the sunlight. He was face up in the middle of the flower patch that he had landed in when he fell down Mt. Ebott at the beginning of his travels. A flower popped up next to him. "Howdy! I'm Flowey the flower! You must be new to the Underground," it said in a friendly tone.

I'm less new than you think, Asriel, thought Frisk. He smiled. He'd play along with the flower, already knowing how the battle would end. It felt cool to relive all his adventures, now that he knew what was going to happen in advance. It gave him an extra edge in every battle. Instead of wandering confused around the Underground, taking forever to solve simple puzzles, he completed everything with the enhancement of his experiences in his previous run. With no monster guessing that this wasn't his first time making the journey, he impressed everyone with his ability to quickly and efficiently get past everything.

It wasn't long until Frisk got everyone back to the Surface. Once again, his life adopted the same, boring routine that had caused him to reset. But hey, this was life. He should try to enjoy it. He wasn't supposed to keep resetting, as Flowey hadn't forgotten to remind him this run. Still, he was getting sick of Toriel's pies again and he'd already seen all of Alphys's animes last run. But he gave it all another chance.

One more reset couldn't hurt.


	2. Chapter 2

Frisk wasn't standing on the patch of golden flowers outside of the Ruins. He was standing outside of his house on the Surface. He had just reset, though. So why wasn't he back in the Underground?

"Frisk!" A tired looking woman was calling to him from the front porch of a house.

"What, Mom?" he asked, taking a seat next to her. He wasn't sure why he was still on the Surface, but his mom was here, so things couldn't have gone too weird.

They sat together for a few minutes. "So, Frisk, did you have a nice day?" she asked casually.

Frisk suppressed a sigh. His mother had obviously been shaken up by him going missing when he had gotten stuck down in the world of monsters. Even after he had returned to the Surface, a hero among monsters, she had been wary of his new friends. She seemed to have it in her mind that Toriel was trying to take her son away and Papyrus was some sort of a pervert for trying to date a fourteen-year-old, even though Frisk insisted that he had started it. Frisk supposed that it was his mother's job to worry about him, but it was annoying to have to remind her every day that he was safe and that his monster friends weren't going to eat him or anything.

"Mom, you know I'm fine. Are you ever going to realize that Papyrus is too innocent to know what a weirdo is, much less be one?"

His mother raised an eyebrow. "Papyrus? Who's that?" she asked.

Now it was Frisk's turn to be confused. "Papyrus. You know, he likes spaghetti." His mother still looked quizzical. Frisk sighed, annoyed. "Come on, he's the tall skeleton who always talks really loudly. You can't forget a guy like that."

His mother frowned. "Skeleton? Frisk, what joke are you trying to pull off?" Frisk stared at his mother, mouth open. Either his mother was really good at pretending to look confused or she had somehow actually forgotten that Papyrus existed. But how could she... It dawned on him. His reset. Resetting had always taken him back to his most recent save location, though, except for that last one that had taken him all the way back to the flower patch at the edge of the Ruins. If resetting had been able to take him back to the moment after he had fallen, why shouldn't it be able to return him to the Surface to a time before he had climbed Mt. Ebott?

"Mom, this is a little strange for me to ask, but how many monsters have you seen lately?"

She looked concerned. "Frisk, are you feeling alright?" she asked. That confirmed Frisk's suspicions. He really had reset to before he had fallen down Mt. Ebott. It felt strange, knowing that his own fate and having power over time itself but somehow being able to sit here with his mother, acting so normal. He felt a little compelled to tell his mother everything, right then and there. She was his mother, after all. Shouldn't he be able to tell her things? Shouldn't the woman who had singlehandedly raised him, cared for him, and watched over for him be allowed to know that her son was going to climb up the nearby mountain and disappear for a few days, only to come back as the ambassador between monsters and humans, telling everybody that the creatures they had always feared were actually not bad at all?

"Mom," he started, "I really need you to know something." How was he going to put this? Maybe it would be best to just say it. "Mom, I have the power to control time and I need to save all the monsters that are trapped underground."

Her expression didn't change. Then her frown deepened. "What has gotten into you, Frisk? You're acting so strangely today. Do you need to lie down?"

Frisk closed his eyes. Of course she thought he was crazy. Even his own mother had no reason to believe what he had just said. "Mom," he tried, "Mom, look at the street." He wracked his mind, trying to think of the last time he had sat on the porch with his mother, before he had climbed Mt. Ebott. Had anything interesting happened that day -today - that he could tell her would happen before it actually happened? "Mom, very soon the Runaway Five band's truck is going to drive down this road. They're going to come down and play some music as they go by and the last time this happened, before I went back in time and came to here - I mean now - you told me a story about how you used to love listening to their music. I know you don't remember because it hasn't happened yet, but you told me that one time, you snuck out in the middle of the night just to listen to them play. I'm sorry I thought it was a boring story because I never would have remembered them driving by if you hadn't told it to me."

She looked genuinely worried now. "Frisk, I'm going to call the doctor for you. I'm not sure what's gotten into you today, but-" She was cut off by the sound of blaring music. A few moments later, a truck rolled past. The truck for the Runaway Five band. She stared at it, mouth open. She stared at her son, mouth open. Then she fainted.

 **Yes, I know I referenced Earthbound.**


	3. Chapter 3

Frisk's mother still hadn't gotten up from bed. Frisk was tending to her as diligently as he could, but he wished that Toriel could be there to help them. He had gotten used to the goat woman assisting his mother with the house chores, and even though the two humans didn't really like it when she sometimes said "goodnight, my child," as it made Frisk feel like a kid and his mother feel uncomfortable, Frisk really missed Toriel. He missed her and Papyrus and Sans and Alphys and all his other monster friends.

They couldn't help him now, though. They were trapped underground, waiting for him to rescue them, and he was stuck up on the Surface, tending to his mother. Why had he thought that it would be a good idea to tell her that he could alter time?

He thought about resetting again, to stop himself from telling his mother about his power, but that didn't seem like such a good idea, either. If his last reset had taken him to before he had climbed Mt. Ebott, who knew what time his next one would drop him off in?

It was days before she recovered from her shock enough to go back to work. And it was weeks before she was able to talk to her son without looking worried and nervous. After what seemed like an eternity of arguing and begging, she agreed to let him go save the monsters.

"You're positively certain that you'll be safe? And you'll be back tomorrow? she asked for probably the hundredth time.

"Mother, I've done this before. I promise I'll be fine." He was confident that he would be. After all, he'd be encountering the monsters he had to fight for the third time, so he knew all of their attacks. He was betting that he wouldn't even lose one health. "Mom, I know this is hard, but you have to trust me when I say that I'm going to be fine."

His mother smiled sadly. "You've really grown up, Frisk," she said, "You be safe out there, ok?" She managed another smile. "Be safe for me."

* * *

The moment Frisk stood up on the patch of yellow flowers, he sensed that something was wrong. Everything seemed quiet. Creepily quite. It hadn't been like this the first time he'd fallen, had it? Confused and slightly on edge, Frisk walked forward.

Flowey didn't greet him. Although Frisk had no desire to get "friendliness pellets" shot at his face, the familiar flower's absence was unnerving. Why wasn't Flowey on the lookout for the easy prey of an innocent human soul like his?

Frisk entered the great structure that was the Ruins. No monsters encountered him. No Froggits hopped up, no Whimsums fluttered over. The only thing that Frisk could even somewhat call an enemy was the training dummy, which of course couldn't answer any of his questions.

Frisk reached Toriel's house at the end of the Ruins. _If Toriel isn't here, I'm going to start freaking out_ , thought Frisk. The silence amplified every little sound: leaves crunching under his feet, loose stones being kicked on the path, the beating of his own heart. It all was making the question-filled child nervous and afraid.

He found the goat woman staring at the dead tree in front of her house. She looked like she might cry. When she saw Frisk, however, she gave him her familiar "poor child" show and all traces of the sadness were masked. Frisk played along, acting like the house was a new place to him. It would be better if he didn't frighten Toriel like he had done with his mother. He didn't think he could let the kind goat woman go through more stress after she seemed so upset, and besides, how would he ask Toriel what was going wrong if she was passed out from shock?

After listening to a few of her snail stories, Frisk felt that it was the right time to ask Toriel what was going on. "Child, whatever do you mean? It's a beautiful day outside, and you are safe here. Why would you think something is wrong?"

Of course Toriel would be reluctant to tell an innocent kid that something awful had happened. Frisk supposed that he had known that it would take a little coaxing to get an answer out of the monster who had wanted to keep him safe so badly that she had tried to destroy the only exit from the Ruins. And Toriel was thinking he was some defenseless little kid, not someone who had survived the dangers of the Underground more than once and gotten past Photoshop Flowey _and_ the God of Hyperdeath twice. It would take a little to convince Toriel that he could handle whatever news she had.

"I have to get back to the Surface." On his previous runs, that had always led to Toriel trying to block off the exit and telling Frisk about Asgore killing the rest of the humans who had fallen into the Underground. If Frisk wanted Toriel to tell him what was going on without having to reveal his time-traveling powers, asking to go to the Surface was his best option.

Toriel didn't get up from her chair to go downstairs and try to destroy the exit to the Ruins. Instead, she gave Frisk a grief-filled smile. "I suppose that that would be alright," she said. "Asgore has what he wants. There will be no more bloodshed, only peace. The killing is over. All that remains is freedom."

Frisk frowned and took a step away from the goat lady. What was Toriel talking about? She should be warning him about Asgore, not telling him that the violence was over. There was definitely something wrong with this.

"What do you mean by freedom? I thought that monsters were trapped underground."

Toriel gave another sad smile. "It's not how I wanted us to get free, but we are free nonetheless. Asgore has promised that he will not harm another human. We will all peacefully integrate on the Surface when he breaks the barrier at tomorrow's ceremony. Then we will all be free." A tear soaked into the fur of her cheek. "Yes, it is not at all how I wanted us to get free, but we are undeniably free. And you will be safe. There is no need to gather more human souls. Tomorrow we will all go to the Surface."

Free? How could the monsters be free? Had Alphys finally found some determination substitute? "How is Asgore going to break the barrier?" asked Frisk.

Toriel sighed. "Asgore has what he wanted. He has what we need to break the barrier and be free. Children had to die for it, but he finally has his seven human souls."

 **Seven?! If the last soul wasn't Frisk's then who took his place?**


	4. Chapter 4

Another kid had fallen? Frisk hadn't had any idea what could have changed in the time that it had taken him to convince his mother that he would be safe, but he certainly wasn't expecting this. He had thought this reset was going to be exactly the same as the others, but this... this was absolutely not what he was expecting. And the poor child who had taken his place! Frisk was experienced with the Underground's perils, but this other kid hadn't been prepared for any of it. And now that person was dead, all because Frisk hadn't come quickly enough.

But that wouldn't be the only problem. Asgore might have promised to not wage war against humanity, thank goodness, but Frisk hadn't befriended Undyne so she must still believe that all humans were evil. And how could Frisk forget Flowey? The little plant hadn't greeted him when he had fallen down, and what reason would Flowey have to stick around for another human if he knew that the seven souls he desired were already at the castle?

 _This is bad_ , Frisk thought. _This is really really bad._ Fighting Photoshop Flowey was hard enough, and the flower only had six souls in that state. With seven, who knew how much more powerful he would be? Maybe he wouldn't even be beatable. If that was the case, what was Frisk doing here with Toriel?! He needed to get to Asgore before Flowey took the souls! What he would tell the furry goat monster once he reached him, well, he'd figure that out when he got there. Hopefully he knew enough about Asgore to figure out how to persuade him to be on guard. He needed to start moving right away, though. Flowey had gotten a head start on him, though he didn't know how far ahead he was. All he could do was hope that his opponent would be cocky and think he had more time than he really did.

He briefly considered resetting. But if his last reset had taken him back to before he had fallen down Mt. Ebott, who knew what would happen if he did it again? It might take him back in time by a month or a year or maybe even more. It would be safer to just go find Flowey.

First, though, Frisk needed to get out of the Ruins. Toriel wouldn't let him go by himself (Frisk knew her well enough to be certain of that), and waiting for them to go together tomorrow would be a waste of precious time. He studied Toriel's grief-filled face. Running away from her while she was already so upset would be cruel, but it was for her own good. Grieving for whoever had fallen would have to wait until after Flowey was stopped.

Getting away from Toriel had been easy. Frisk had thought that he would have to fight her or something like he always had to, but she had just sat in her chair and made no move to stop him. It was so depressing, Frisk had half considered staying with her to make sure she was alright. But he had wasted enough time here and he couldn't afford to let Flowey get any further ahead of him.

If one good thing came out of this seventh kid's death, it was that it made all the monsters too excited about freedom to fight Frisk. Without needing to battle someone every few minutes, his travel time was cut down by a good chunk. Add that to the fact that he knew the most efficient paths and the stations of all the guards, and he made it to Asgore in record time.

The king of all monsters looked up from the flowers he was watering. He smiled sadly when his eyes met those of the young teen. "Ah, it seems that you have come at a lucky time," said Asgore. "I have no need to take your soul as well. At last, monsters have all that is needed to break the barrier. We can be free, and not one more drop of blood needs to be shed." He gave a tired sigh. "At last, now we have freedom and peace."

 _Well at least that's one good thing coming out of this,_ thought Frisk. With him rushing to get to the king, Frisk hadn't been able to talk to Sans or Papyrus or Undyne or Alphys or any of his other monster friends. He wasn't sure how they were doing, but if Asgore was saying that the monsters were happy, that meant his friends were doing ok. He'd have to introduce himself to them when this business with Flowey was over. He looked forward to meeting up with all of them on the Surface. And this time, he wouldn't reset and leave them again.

First, though, he needed to stop Flowey. "Where are you going, human?" inquired Asgore. Frisk was practically skipping out of the garden and motioned for the king to follow him. When they reached the room with the coffins, Frisk sighed in relief. The souls were still there, glowing softly in their glass prisons. Light blue to the far right, and then orange and purple and blue and green and yellow. But to the left of the yellow soul floated another heart, this one light green. This was the seventh soul the king of the monsters had taken.

"Jenelle was full of empathy for the plight of us monsters," Asgore whispered, sadly watching the heart float up and down inside the jar. "She told me that after all the monsters she had befriended, if the only way to save them from an eternity of darkness was to give up her life, she... she would do it. That child was a true hero, and I am a hateful creature for ending her."

Frisk approached the light green heart as Asgore backed out of the room, too upset to see his victims any longer. This Jenelle had been the human who had taken his place and died to save everyone. She had walked the route that Frisk had so often taken and made friends with the monsters Frisk knew so well. And then she had been reduced to a little heart.

Frisk had always thought of himself as the only one who could save the monsters. But then this girl had fallen down and saved everyone instead. And she hadn't lived to see her friends reach the Surface and start new and happy lives in the sun. Frisk had been resetting out of boredom, but all of a sudden it hit him that there might not have been a happy ending. Saving everybody and then coming home to a mother wasn't what had happened to Jenelle, and it very well might have not happened to him, either. How lucky was he to have a life with friends and family! If Frisk had had any lingering thoughts about resetting again, they were definitely gone now. Why not be grateful for what he ended up with? It was definitely better than what had befallen some.

Flowey popped out of the ground next to the light blue soul. He stared at Frisk in disbelief. "An _eighth_ human soul?!" He grinned malevolently. "If seven makes me a god, who knows what I'll be able to do with eight!" The flower wrapped a vine around the light blue soul's jar and squeezed it until it cracked. Frisk could practically feel his opponent's stats increasing.

If Flowey got more determination than Frisk, he would take the teen's ability to reset. Prepared for a fight, Frisk stomped on one of Flowey's vines. The plant yelped in pain and ducked under the ground, only to pop up next to another soul. Frisk hurled himself on top of Flowey as he was absorbing a second soul. The frantic plant called up a reset button, and Frisk mustered all the determination he had to pull it away from the flower. It was a battle of pure determination with neither fighter willing to let go.

Desperately, Flowey slammed a vine down on the button. His options limited to one, Frisk hit it at the same time as Flowey did. Like it did after every reset, the world went dark.

 **I guess I can add 'making an oc' to the list things that I have accomplished. Anyway, next week anybody reading this can see what this fanfic says when two guys with nearly equal amounts of determination hit a reset button at the same time.**


	5. Chapter 5

Frisk blinked in the little patch of golden flowers at the beginning of the path through the Underground. He was alive. That was good. Flowey wasn't attacking him. In fact, Frisk didn't see Flowey anywhere. That was good. _I must have had just a tiny bit more determination than him to reset and not have him come with me or something_ , he thought.

"AAAAHHHHHHH "Frisk jumped as something crashed down next to him. Not something, someone. "Shoot!" the kid cursed as he brushed himself off. He noticed Frisk. "How long have you been watching me?" he asked.

"I just got here," shrugged Frisk. The two studied each other. This new boy looked a few years younger than Frisk, and he was wearing a yellow and green striped shirt, covered in dirt from his landing.

The kid shrugged. "Well, as long as you don't get into a heated dare battle with me and make me do something stupid like climb a mountain, I think we'll be just fine." He held out his hand.

"Ok, Mom. I just wanna check out this one spot really quickly!" A young goat monster ran into view, smiling. He immediately stopped when he saw the two humans. He stared at them, mouth open. They stared back at him with an equal amount of astonishment. "Um, howdy?" he shifted uncomfortably.

"Howdy to you, too." The other human walked up to shake his hand.

The goat boy smiled shyly. "I'm Asriel," he told him.

"The name's Chara," the boy said. The two turned to Frisk. "Hey, what's your name?" Chara asked.

Frisk didn't answer. Asriel was standing in front of him, acting like a totally normal kid. The only time Frisk got to see Asriel was when he was an evil flower and when Frisk had to get him to talk himself out of being the crazy god of hyperdeath and destroying the timeline. But here he was, acting like a happy, normal child. And Chara. Frisk didn't know much about Chara, only little bits and pieces of info that he had managed to pick up on his various runs through the Underground. Together, they formed a choppy story of a child who had been the first human to fall to the Underground and who had been found by the young prince of monsters and taken into his family and then killed himself by eating golden flowers.

If this kid was that Chara and he had just watched that Chara fall…

"Flowey messed up this reset more than I thought," Frisk mumbled before fainting.

"Hey, he's waking up!" Frisk blinked and the four people standing over him came into focus. Or, to describe it better, the three monsters and one human came into focus.

"Dear child, are you alright?" asked Toriel. Frisk sat up in the bed. He knew this place. It looked like the strange grey house next to the castle in Hotland, except now it was full of color and golden flowers filled nearly every empty spot.

"I'm afraid that you will not be able to return to the Surface anytime soon," Asgore smiled sadly, "but we will provide for you as best we can."

Frisk shook his head. What the heck was happening?! He had somehow reset to Flowey / Asriel's past but Asriel didn't remember and Frisk was still the same age but was there another Frisk that was younger and with his mother or had he just never been born but in that case he shouldn't exist so why was this timeline even possible?! Boy, did his head hurt.

And how was he going to get home now? For all Frisk knew, he was sitting in a bed in Asgore and Toriel's old house in some time probably before he had even been born. Resetting to an even earlier date didn't seem like such a good idea. But joining a family he had only heard about in stories would mess up the timeline even worse than it already was.

"Child, are you all right?" Toriel repeated with concern.

"I'm fine, Toriel," Frisk mumbled.

Toriel frowned. "Child, how do you know my name?"

Frisk sighed. He was sick of resetting and having everybody forget him. Right now, he just wished his 'reset' button could turn into a 'continue to that time before everything got messed up' button. Well, how much bigger of a mess could he get himself into? He might as well just be honest. Asgore and Toriel were monsters he trusted and maybe they could help him. Besides, he was pretty tired of keeping his power a secret.

"Could you all sit down?" Frisk requested. Asgore and Toriel shot him quizzical looks and Asriel and Chara started to protest, but they all complied. Frisk took a deep breath. There was no going back now - and that meant not keeping his ability a secret and not resetting again. "So, my name's Frisk," he started, "and you're Asgore, Toriel, Asriel, and Chara. Asgore, Toriel, you're the king and queen of monsters. Toriel, you call Asgore King Fluffubuns and Asgore, you call her Tori. I didn't find this out because I'm a stalker; I actually have the ability to alter time and I've already met you a bunch of times. Anyway, I got stuck in this time and now I need to get home and I was hoping that you could help me. So, any questions?"

Asgore's mouth was open. Toriel's eye was twitching. Asriel and Chara were staring at him with looks that suggested that they were debating over whether to think of him as crazy or some sort of god. They all fainted.

 **Because I do not wish to bring back angry memories of my English class, I am not going to call Frisk and Chara "they." Instead, I'll just have each new story I write about them alternate which gender they are. Chara was a girl last time so now Chara will be a boy. Next story I'll make Frisk a girl.**


	6. Chapter 6

"So, do we get to the Surface soon?"

"Um-"

"And do humans like us monsters?"

"Well-"

"Oh! And-"

"Asriel! I don't think I should tell you about the future!" Frisk snapped. He immediately regretted it. The little goat monster was getting on his nerves, but it wasn't worth it to see his furry face fall like this.

"I'm sorry I snapped, ok?" Frisk softened his tone. "Its just that messing with time was what got me into this mess in the first place, so telling you about the future might mess things up for you as well."

"Ok. I understand," sighed Asriel. Then he brightened up. "Hey, Frisk, Chara and I were gonna play something together. If it won't mess up the future, would ya like to play with us?"

Frisk shrugged. "Seems like it'd be fine" The excited little goat monster grabbed his hand and Frisk found himself being whisked off to the flower garden. Chara was kneeling on the ground, picking buttercups. He looked up when he heard them approach.

"Hey guys," he greeted them, dusting himself off. "I was just picking these for Mom and Dad to thank them for, you know, working so hard to look through all those books to find something that might help Frisk get home." Unlike Frisk, Chara had immediately taken to calling Toriel and Asgore "Mom and Dad." He seemed perfectly fine being stuck in the Underground with virtually no chance at getting back to the Surface. If anything, he seemed happier being in the Underground with his new family.

"We could bake them a pie, too, like the ones Mom always makes," suggested Asriel.

"That's a wonderful idea!" Chara agreed. He grabbed his bouquet and Asriel's hand and skipped off to the kitchen. Frisk didn't really mind being left out. Those two kids were better off with just each other, being the same age and all, and besides, Frisk could use this time to help Asgore and Toriel read some of the old history books and try to find out more about the power of resetting.

Toriel looked up from her dusty tome when Frisk walked into the room. "Could I help?" he asked, pointing to the bookshelf.

Carefully, Toriel set the book down. "If you would rather sit in a room with dusty old books than play outside on this beautiful day," she said, "then yes, you are welcome to help. Asgore is busy dealing with both his and my royal duties, so thank you, child."

Frisk pulled a book off of the shelf and started flipping through it. It was mostly just boring accounts of the monsters' side of the great war between humans and monsters, but there were a few mentions of determination. They were just mentions, though, and the book ended up in the 'already read' pile. The next book Frisk picked up had even less information than the first. By the third book, Frisk was skimming entire chapters. He almost missed the single paragraph that mentioned resetting.

"Toriel! I found something!" He brought the book over to her and they read the passage together.

 _Investigations in the humans' mysterious determination have led to few results. This trait seems to be the culprit of what is allowing them to best monsters in nearly every battle. It is also likely the reason that human souls persist after death. Investigations into this trait will continue, but conclusive results do not seem likely to be reached as stranger accounts regarding determination, especially high levels of it, seem to be surfacing every day this war goes on. One of the most interesting reports is one that came from a soldier who claimed to see a group of victorious humans celebrating and congratulating one of their comrades, praising him for his extraordinary amount of determination and how it granted him the power to "reset" and gain them the win. Whether or not this is true is open to skepticism, but other reports from this day's battle claim that the humans seemed to almost know what troops and formations we would put out, allowing them to counter our every attack with ease and emerge victorious with minimal losses. If this human did in fact have the ability to live through a day and then reset time knowing exactly what was going to happen, then determination is indeed a strange power with no perceivable equal. Further investigations will be proposed, although conclusive results do not seem likely._

The book made no further mention of resetting, although it had several passages about how higher levels of determination seemed to correspond to more extraordinary powers and more control over those powers. Frisk frowned at Toriel. "Maybe this means that I need to get more determined to get to control my resets, but…" his voice trailed off as he thought about all those times on his journeys that he felt filled with determination. That might have been enough to recover his health, but he didn't feel like that would be enough to let him control a power he had never even understood. He hadn't even known it existed until he had fallen into the Underground, and then he had gotten a huge boost of determination with his persistence to keep surviving to see the sun and his mother again, and later to free his monster friends. It seemed crazy that all that had first happened only a few months ago (Or was it a few years in the future? Time didn't seem like such a good reference when he was altering it.), and now he was stuck some time in the past with no control over this power and no idea how to get more determined. If anything, he was feeling pretty hopeless about the whole situation.

"Child, you will get home. Do not worry." Toriel's statement was nearly the exact opposite of what she always told him in the Ruins. Well, Frisk was used to things being different. At any rate, it made him feel better to know that he'd get help this time. He found himself smiling.

"Mom! Mom!" Asriel sprinted into the room, a look of terror on his face. "Mom! You've gotta come! Chara and I were making a pie a-and Dad came in a-and he t-tried some of the batter a-and now there's something wrong with him! He couldn't stand and Mom, I think he's really sick! You gotta help him!"


	7. Chapter 7

Buttercups do not make a good substitute for butter in a pie. The royal family say definite proof of this fact during the week of bed rest it took Asgore to recover from Chara and Asriel's confection. The doctor insisted that he would be alright, but that didn't stop Toriel from worrying. Asriel didn't feel up to playing while his father was sick. Fortunately, once Asgore got better, the little goat monster's smiles came back. Chara didn't recover as easily.

Frisk had his own worries to occupy his attention. Getting more determination was a problem he needed to figure out a solution to, but he couldn't come up with any ideas. He was getting a headache over it. How on the Underground was he going to get home?! He sighed in frustration. All the words in the old book he was searching seemed to blend together. He needed to take a break. A little fresh air and he'd be able to continue his research with fresher eyes.

The flower garden wasn't unoccupied. "Hey Chara," Frisk called to the younger boy. Chara didn't look up. "Hey, are you alright?" Frisk frowned. He sat down next to his unresponsive friend.

Chara absentmindedly picked a few petals off one of the golden flowers. "I'm fine," he mumbled. Out of the blue, he smiled. "Really, I'll be fine."

Asriel skipped over to them with a video camera. "Howdy, guys! Hey, Chara! Do your creepy face!" Chara shot him a dark look. "That was pretty good! Oh, wait. The lens cap's on." He started to take it off to record his friend, but Chara stood up to stop him.

"Oh yeah. We were going to do your plan." Asriel bit his lip and glanced at Frisk. "I guess we'll have to tell him now that he's here."

Chara glared at him. "Yes, I guess we will have to, now that you've told him we have a plan." Asriel flinched. "Whatever," sighed Chara. "It was bound to come out some time or later." He turned to Frisk. "Fine. We'll tell you our plan. You can help us if you want, but don't try to stop us from going through with it."

He glanced over at the house. Toriel and Asgore were busy with the royal duties that had piled up while Asgore had been sick and the royal guard hadn't been established yet, so the trio would not be interrupted. Confident that his plan wouldn't be overheard, Chara started to speak.

"The barrier needs seven human souls to break it. But it just needs one human soul and a monster one to get past it.

Frisk had watched the tapes in the true lab and he saw where this was going. "This isn't going to turn out well for anyone," he protested.

"I told you not to try and stop me! You didn't even hear my plan yet!" Chara stomped. "If Asriel takes my soul, we can cross the barrier together and get the souls we need to break it! What's wrong with that?"

"Believe me, I know what could go wrong. What _will_ go wrong," replied Frisk. "I don't know if you realize this, but if your soul gets absorbed, you _die_. And you and Asriel can't just go up to the Surface and kill people! There are other ways that we could fix everything. The royal scientist in my time, Alphys, got together with some human scientists on the Surface after everyone got free and they worked on some ways that could have broken the Barrier without anybody having to get killed."

"Well believe me when I say that there are some people up on the Surface who deserve to die," countered Chara. "Do you have any idea how it feels to be kicked around and called a demon child?! Maybe it's time I started living up to that name!"

"H-Hey, please don't fight like this."

"Shut it! I thought you were on my side, Asriel!" shouted Chara.

"I-I am!" stammered the little goat. "It's just... I... I still don't like this plan!"

"Oh, and you like Frisk's plan better? Frisk and all his fancy resets? Frisk and his futuristic time travel? Well go ahead! Like whatever plan Frisk has! You know what? You can go ahead and like _him_ more than you like _me_! I'll just find a way to do the plan without your help!"

"I don't think that!" cried Asriel, but Chara was already halfway across the garden, tears in his eyes as he ran away from his two friends. Asriel turned to Frisk. "We've gotta stop him from doing the plan! Frisk, Chara's gonna kill himself!"

Asriel let out a little yelp as Frisk grabbed his hand and started running. "Come on, we have to catch up with him!" Asriel found his footing and tried to keep pace. Frisk focused on the distant Chara and ran faster. Only one thought was on his mind: save that kid. It filled him with determination.


	8. Chapter 8

"Stop chasing me!" yelled Chara. Frisk and Asriel kept running. Frisk put on another burst of speed and closed the gap between him and the pursued boy. Chara realized that escape wasn't going to be an option. "Alright! If you wanna stop me so badly, why don't you try and make me?!" he shouted, turning around and to face the older boy.

Frisk had never gotten into a FIGHT with another human before, so he was a little surprised to see Chara's bright red soul pop up and get ready to dodge whatever attack Frisk tried. He didn't attack, though. "Chara, killing a bunch of humans and monsters isn't going to solve anything!"

"Yeah, I'm sure that's easy for you to say. You're the big hero who saves everybody, so of course you don't want anybody else to spoil your dumb spotlight by bringing the barrier down before your dumb face comes in and frees everyone!" screamed Chara. He pulled out a pocket knife and threw it. Frisk dodged. "Yeah, I'm sure you'd be mad if you didn't get all the credit for saving everybody! But gee, wouldn't it be great if you took ONE SECOND to actually care and see that just maybe I need a little praise, too!"

Frisk jumped away from another knife. "Do you have any idea how it feels to spend every day of your life being hated?!" Chara ranted on. "I've been kicked around, teased, called a demon child just because of the color of my soul - even my own family hates me! Do you have any idea how it feels to be smacked by your own parents?! I bet not! Those people up there, they deserve to die! Every last one of them deserves to die!"

Tears were streaming down Chara's face. Frisk kept his mouth shut and dodged for the third time. This was like Asriel's final fight all over again; his opponent was acting out of hurt and anger and as much as he wanted to make him feel better right then, there was nothing Frisk could do to help Chara until the kid talked himself out of this state.

"Don't you understand? This is the first time I've ever felt like I actually belong. Here in the Underground, monsters actually care about me. They don't think I'm useless. But if you break the barrier, everybody is going to call me useless because you freed everyone and I didn't do anything. Why won't you just let me be the one who saves everyone? Why?!" Chara realized that he was out of knives. He half-heartedly threw a clump of dirt instead. "Why?!" He sank to the ground, crying. "I just don't wanna be useless," he whispered between sobs. "I just want a family who cares about me. Is that too much to ask? I just don't wanna be useless."

"Nobody here thinks you're useless, and Asriel and Toriel and Asgore and I are all still going to care about you even if you don't break the barrier. I just don't want you to get yourself killed by trying."

Chara sniffled. "What's wrong with me. Asriel's supposed to be the crybaby, not me." She smiled sadly at the insulted goat boy. "No offense."

"Well, nobody here is judging you or anything," said Frisk. He stepped over one of the knives and sat down next to Chara. Asriel took a seat, too. "If it makes you feel any better, Alphys's plan to break the barrier doesn't have just me saving everyone. You're going to be a big part of it, if you want to help."

Chara put his head down. "I don't think I deserve this. You should kick me out."

Asriel nudged his friend to get him to look up. "What?" grumbled Chara.

"I want to give you this." Asriel handed him a heart-shaped locket. "It was for your plan. In case merging souls made one of us... not make it. I just wanted us to be reminded of each other. I guess we don't really need to worry anymore since the plan's off, but I still want to give it to you. You don't need to leave Mom and Dad and I to go back to your human family, you know. We could be your family if you want." Chara stared at the locket. The heart had the words "Best Friends" written on it. Asriel held up an identical one. "I've got one for you, too, Frisk," he said, fishing a third locket out of his pocket. "Here. You're our friend, too."

Frisk held it up to the light and smiled. Hopefully the reset would let him bring it with him. He hadn't even left yet and already he was missing the little goat's optimism and happiness. He was filled with determination to see the two kids again.

"You still want to be my friend, even after what I just did," murmured Chara. He smiled softly. "Thank you. I'll... I'll try to be the best friend I can."

Frisk smiled at the two boys. "If you're all settled, are you ready to head back home? I need to say goodbye to Asgore and Toriel and tell all of you Alphys's plan to break the barrier before I try to get enough determination to do that reset." He brushed himself off and picked up one of the knives that was stuck in the ground. "Here," he handed it back to its owner.

Chara's face flushed with embarrassment. "Sorry for attacking you, Frisk."

"Well, most of the monsters I consider friends attacked me at one time or another, so I guess I'm used to it," Frisk laughed in response, remembering his FIGHTS with Papyrus and Undyne and Mettaton and all the others. "I think we'll be fine. Just please, let's try to keep the knives away from now on."

Asgore and Toriel were searching for their children when the trio returned. "My children!" cried Toriel, "Where were you?"

Chara looked down. Asriel shifted from one hoof to the other. Frisk saved him from having to explain. "We just had to sort something out, but everything's fine now," he said. Goat Mom and Dad seemed content enough with that.

With everything sorted out, there was nothing left to do except tell them the plan to break the barrier. "I guess I better get directly to this," started Frisk, missing them even though he hadn't even left yet and he knew he'd see them again soon. "Well, the royal scientist in my time worked with some human scientists and they figured out a way to bring down the barrier without getting anyone killed."

Asgore shot him a quizzical look. "That takes the power of seven human souls, though. Draining that much energy from them would surely kill them."

"That's where we messed up," said Frisk. "We need the power _equal to_ that of seven human souls. Seven human souls would be able to break the barrier, but it would take too much energy from them and their owners would die. But if we spread out what we take the power from with let's say eight or nine or ten souls, the amount that each of them loses won't be enough to kill their people." He paused for a moment to let his audience process what he was saying. "Anyway, you won't need to kill anybody who falls down here and we'll all break the barrier together."

"But how will you return to your home and time, child?" asked Toriel.

"That's where resetting comes in," Frisk explained. "When I reset, I kind of go back in time. Since I live in the future, I'm guessing I have to do some sort of reverse reset. I'm hoping that I'll just become the Frisk in the future, the one who lives up on the Surface with my mom. I mean, I become the Frisk of some point in the past and I'm in the place I was at that point in the past and I have all the items I had at that point in the past whenever I reset normally. If that logic holds up, I should become the Frisk in the future and be up on the Surface where I live before I fall down Mt. Ebott when I try this reverse reset. The only thing I should be able to keep is my memories." Oh yeah. Future Frisk didn't have a heart locket. "I won't be able to take this with me," he handed it back to Asriel. "Keep it safe, please?"

Asriel took it. Tears were in his eyes. "We won't see you again for a while, will we?" he asked. "It'll just be a little while for you cuz you're doing a reset but we'll have to wait a long time until you come back."

Frisk ruffled the fur on the little goat's head. "We'll see each other again, but don't forget that in the meantime you've got Chara and your parents and whoever else happens to fall down before I do."

Frisk turned to Chara. "Be happy, ok? You've got a lot of monsters here who really care about you."

Chara smiled. "I'll stay away from knives, too."

"Knives?" a concerned Toriel frowned.

"It's nothing," Frisk assured her. "Anyway, take care of yourself, Goat Mom. You too, Goat Dad." He gave each of them a hug before turning away. It was time to try to get back home.

Frisk closed his eyes and thought of the family he was leaving. Knowing that he was going to see them again filled him with determination. He thought of his mother and how much she loved him and he was filled with determination. He thought of the barrier's impending fall and that filled him with determination. He thought about how Chara and Asriel and the six fallen children and that seventh girl Jenelle were going to be safe and live out full lives and that filled him with determination. He thought of his monster friends and his human friends and all the joy they had and we're going to have and he could feel the determination flowing through him. The reset button popped up in front of him. Frisk let the determination surround it and it began to glow brighter than ever. He picked up the button and turned it over. The letters on it began to change to say "forward." Frisk pushed it.

And then, like it did after every reset, the world went dark.

 **Yay! Frisk's going home! If anybody is confused about the explai nation of the whole reverse resetting thing, it's kind of like the end of Back to the Future. He is still himself at his current age but he has already lived in that altered timeline for as long as he's been alive, even though he didn't get to relive his life in the altered timeline. Hopefully that explains it.**


	9. Chapter 9

**Woo hoo! Last chapter! Sorry this took so long. It's twice the length of the average chapter of this and I couldn't pick a good point to break it into two parts. Anyway, hopefully it concludes things well.**

Frisk opened his eyes to find himself standing outside his house on the Surface. "Frisk!" a tired looking woman called to him from the front porch.

"Mom! I missed you!" It felt like ages since he'd said goodbye to his mother that last time he's gone to the Underground.

"Oh!" she started in surprise at her son's hug. "Um, I was only at work, but thank you?"

"Sorry Mom," Frisk blushed. "I guess I just feel like I've been gone a long time."

His mom shrugged. "Well, wherever you went, did you have a nice day?"

"It was pretty eventful," he replied honestly. He looked out to the road in front of the house. Mt Ebott's shadow was lengthening over it, reminding him that he still had a task to finish. His monster friends had been waiting for a while.

When he had reverse reset, Frisk had been thinking about the last day he'd seen his mother before falling into the Underground. Hopefully his new control over that power had let him reset to that day If it had, the sun was getting low in the sky so it wouldn't be long before the Runaway Five truck was going to come. "Hey, Mom? I need to tell you something that's pretty unbelievable."

"What do you mean?" she asked.

"Well…" How was he going to say this without freaking her out like last time? "Mom, do you believe in magic?"

She frowned. "Magic? What do you mean?"

"You know, magic and monsters and all that."

"What are you trying to get at?" Her frown deepened. "Frisk, you're acting strange today. Do you need to lie down?"

This was going in the same direction as last time. Maybe it was better to just say it and get the surprise over with. "Mom, I'm really sorry to shock you like this, but," he took a deep breath, "I have the power to alter time and I'm friends with the monsters that are trapped underground. They're really nice and not scary or bad like the stories say they are but they need my help to get free. I know it's hard to believe but it's all true. I've actually been here two times before so I know that the Runaway Five truck is going to drive past us really soon. I know this is a lot to take in but please try to not be too shocked."

She looked genuinely worried about his sanity. "Frisk, I'm going to call a doctor for you. I'm not sure what's-" She was cut off by the sound of blaring music as the Runaway Five truck sped by. She stared at it, mouth open. "Oh my," she breathed before fainting.

* * *

Just like last time, it was a few days before Frisk's mother had recovered from her shock enough to get back to work. And for weeks after that, she was still looking worried and asking Frisk if he remembered hitting his head or something. Finally, though, came to terms with the fact that her son had a special power and she gave her permission for him to go up Mt. Ebott. "If this is something you feel you need to do and you're certain that you're going to be safe, then I shouldn't force you to stay here," she sighed. "I guess I just need to get it through my head that you can take care of yourself now. You've really grown up, but I guess I'm still a little behind in realizing that. You… You be safe out there, ok?"

"Don't worry, Mom. I've done this before. I'll be safe," he promised.

She smiled sadly. "You go have yourself an adventure, Frisk. I'll be waiting up here for you and your monster friends. Just, yeah, be safe. For me."

"I told you I'll be fine. There's an extra human, a kid named Chara, down there, so with me there we'll have one more than the minimum to break the barrier."

She looked confused so he gave a quick explanation about how the barrier required seven human souls to break it but having more souls meant less energy would be taken from each person. By the time he finished, she was starting to look concerned again. Frisk sighed. He was going to have to spend another hour explaining that it was going to be fine and the worst side effect would be that he got a little tired from all that energy being taken away. "Mom, I promise, nobody is going to get hurt," he started.

"I'm coming with you," she announced decisively.

"Come with me? To the Underground?" Frisk asked, surprised.

"Yes. It would be safer to have an extra soul, right?"

"Um, I guess. Yeah, it would." His mom coming to the Underground? He had definitely not expected to hear this. His mom. In the Underground. With the monsters. Wow. Well, it wasn't like Asgore was taking human souls, so what was there to worry about? It would be pretty nice to show her all the cool places and monsters he knew in the Underground. "Ok," he shrugged, "Let's head up Mt. Ebott."

Frisk wasn't too sure what to expect when he and his mother brushed themselves off in the clearing with the golden flowers. Flowey wasn't there to greet them, of course, but-

A bright blue energy spear slammed down in front of him. "Two humans!" shouted the fish-like monster who was holding it.

Frisk's eyes widened. Undyne?! _She_ wasn't supposed to be in the Ruins! "Mom!" he shouted, getting ready to dodge the captain of the royal guard's impending attack, "Run!"

"Hey! Hey! Nobody's here to fight!" Frisk's surprise at seeing Undyne at the edge of the Ruins was nothing compared to what he felt when he saw an adult human jogging up to them. "Woah, Undyne, cool it a bit. We don't want these people getting scared to death."

"Whatever you say, Rafe," Undyne muttered, waving her hand over the energy spear so it dissipated into the air. She shrugged and turned to Frisk and his mother. "It's your lucky day, you two," she said. "We're getting out of here today and we don't even need two extra humans."

The adult human smiled. "You must be so confused, falling down and then seeing all this," he gestured to the area around them. "Well, I believe an introduction is in order. I'm Raphael, the second in command of the royal guard of this place. Welcome to the Underground. I would tell you to enjoy your stay, but with the girl who fell down just yesterday, we're actually breaking down the barrier separating here from the Surface in only a few hours. My captain Undyne and I will take you to the castle to meet the king and queen of monsters and then we can all finally get out of here."

"Yeah, finally I'm going to get more anime! There isn't nearly enough down here!" Undyne shook her fist. "Come on, we need to finish putting that sign up so we can go." Raphael picked up a hammer and began pounding the pole of a sign into the ground. Frisk saw that it gave instructions for how to get past the puzzles in the Ruins.

Raphael stood back to take a look at his work. "Looks nice," he said. "If anybody falls between now and tomorrow, this should be enough to get them to all the way to Snowdin." He brushed the dirt off his hands. "Ok, everything's ready. Sun and sky, here we come!"

Frisk's mother didn't move to follow them. "Excuse me, but could you please explain what on earth is going on? I thought there were only supposed to be monsters here. Frisk, did you know about this?"

Raphael raised an eyebrow. "Frisk? Wow, so you're the time traveling kid Azzy and Chara are always talking about? You've got one heck of a reunion to look forward to, then." He turned to Frisk's mother. "Ma'am, I'm guessing you've heard the rumors about monsters living in under the mountain and how they'll kill anybody who climbs up. Well, the rumors about the monsters are true, but that's it. The king and queen actually saved me and the other kids who fell down, taking us in and treating us like their own children until we were old enough to take care of ourselves. Now we're finally going home, so hopefully those rumors will stop." He shrugged. "Well, that's enough talking about leaving. It's high time we actually go."

The three humans and one monster made their way through the Ruins. Despite his guides being very different from Toriel and his mother being with him, Frisk found a lot of similarities between this journey through the Ruins and all his other travels through it. There were the same puzzles, the same rooms, the same monsters (though these Froggits and Whimsums didn't attack them). There was even the same talking rock. Toriel's house wasn't there, though, but Frisk supposed that it made sense that if Toriel wasn't living in the Ruins, then she wouldn't need a house there. At any rate, the door to Snowdin Forest was still there, and the four of them soon found themselves on the cold next part of the path through the Underground.

"Rafe, think fast!" The three humans jumped as a bright orange heart popped up in front of Raphael and jumped to the side along with its owner. "That gets you every time," grinned the young man stepping out from behind a leafless tree. His yellow soul disappeared as it realized that no FIGHT was happening.

"Dustin! Could you be mature for one second? Can't you see that there's a lady here? And I'm sure you know all about Frisk. What an impression you're making."

"My apologies, madame," Dustin tipped his cowboy hat at her. "It's a pleasure to meet the both of you. Dustin, the dashing royal guard, is at your service." He grinned and shook their hands. "Allow me to escort you to Snowdin Town, the only place in the Underground where you can wish a Vulcan was there so you could accept his offer to heal you."

"Dustin, I can honestly say that I sometimes prefer Jerry's company over yours," Raphael rolled his eyes. "Come on, we're keeping the entire population of monsters plus Greg and Ann and the others waiting."

"Don't mind him," Dustin winked, falling in next to Frisk. "He thinks that being second in command makes him everyone's boss. There isn't any reason to be afraid of him, though. Undyne, too. I've seen her suplex entire boulders and she makes training brutal, but she's one heck of a good cook."

"HUMANS! ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT COOKING? WOWIE, WE HAVE SO MUCH IN COMMON! I, THE GREAT PAPYRUS, HAPPEN TO LOVE COOKING SPAGHETTI." Frisk jerked his head up and saw the tall skeleton. It felt like ages since he'd last seen Papyrus or any of his other monster friends! He hadn't realized how much he missed them until now.

"UM HUMAN? ARE YOU CRYING?" Frisk blinked and felt something cold and wet on his cheek. Wow, he had really missed Papyrus and his infectious happiness and his innocence and his attitude and even his cooking. But Papyrus was looking very confused. _Oh yeah_ , remembered Frisk, _he doesn't know me yet_.

"I'm fine," Frisk brushed away the freezing tear. "Yeah, it's just really nice to, um, meet you. I'm Frisk, and this is my mom."

"I AM THE GREAT PAPYRUS." He extended a boney hand for Frisk to shake. Then the skeleton turned to face Frisk's mother. "IT'S NICE TO MEET YOU, MRS. FRISK'S MOM."

"It's Brenda, actually," she couldn't help but smile.

"THEN IT'S NICE TO MEET YOU, BRENDA. I'D SHOW YOU THE PUZZLES I MADE AROUND HERE, BUT GRILLBY ASKED ME TO GET YOU OVER TO SNOWDIN RIGHT AWAY. MY BROTHER SANS APPARENTLY FELL ASLEEP RIGHT NEXT TO THE DOOR AND NOW IT'S BLOCKED. GRILLBY DOESN'T WANT TO TRY TO MOVE HIM BECAUSE HE THINKS HE'LL GET BURNED AND SANS ATE SO MUCH KETCHUP THAT GREG AND I CAN'T MOVE HIM EVEN WHEN WE WORK AS A PUSH AND PULL TEAM. MOST OF THE MONSTERS IN SNOWDIN ALREADY LEFT FOR THE CASTLE SO YOU'RE THE ONLY ONES LEFT WHO CAN HELP."

"Of course. Come on, let's get that lazybones moving," sighed Undyne.

Snowdin was indeed empty of monsters and the door to Grillby's was indeed stuck. "WE'RE HERE," announced Papyrus.

"Thank goodness!" said a voice through the door that Frisk recognized as the flame monster's.

"Yeah, I'm not sure how much longer I can stand this heat," called a second person. This man's voice was unfamiliar, so Frisk assumed it must belong to Greg.

"Alright everybody. Stand back!" Undyne slammed her fist against the door and it flew open. Grillby and a human who had a stained apron around his waist and medium-length hair tied back in a ponytail to keep it out of his face shakily picked themselves up from where the force of the blow had knocked them to the ground. Sans snored a few feet away, undisturbed. Frisk wasn't too surprised. After seeing the short skeleton sleep through Undyne chasing Frisk into Hotland, both of them shouting, Frisk wasn't sure if anything could pull Sans out of dreamland if he didn't want to be woken up.

Meanwhile, Papyrus was busy unscrewing the cap to a bottle of ketchup. Kneeling down, he poured a few drops on his brother's face. Sans's eye sockets fluttered open and he saw where he was. "man, I must have been bone tired," he muttered with a smile.

"Really? That was all we had to do?" Greg folded his arms. "Whatever. We're free now, so let's finally start going. Hey Papy, did Ann leave without me?"

"THAT GIRL WOULD PATIENTLY WAIT ANOTHER YEAR FOR YOU. NO, SHE AND ZOE ARE STILL AT HOME."

"In that case, I'd better run and get them," he thought out loud. Then he noticed the two new humans. "Oh! I don't think I've seen you before. Did you fall down today?" Frisk nodded and quickly introduced himself and his mother. "Well, it's lucky you don't have to wait that long to go back to the Surface," remarked Greg. "I've been here for nearly ten years, but my wife Ann fell down when she was just a little girl and spent pretty much her whole life in the company of monsters. Our little Zoe hasn't once seen the sun or the sky. I think us fallen humans are just as excited to get out of here as any monster."

Greg invited them all inside his snow-covered home. A woman with strikingly light blue eyes, presumably Ann, was sitting on the floor and tending to a toddler. She looked up upon hearing the door open and saw her husband, his boss, four royal guards (two of them being no less than the captain and her second in command), the owner of the local hotdog and hotcat stand, and two unfamiliar people. "We certainly have quite the traveling party," she remarked, picking up little Zoe. "I assume we're ready to go?"

"Yep, and we've got the famous Frisk and his mother Brenda to help us break the barrier so Zoe'll be even more safe."

Ann gave a soft smile. "Good. Any extra souls that can help are always appreciated. I was almost going to tell everybody that they couldn't ask me to bring my baby into this, but having two extra people here makes it much safer." She looked over the tidy little room. "I think that's everything. Well, the Surface should certainly be worth the wait."

All through Waterfall, Frisk's mother and Annie talked to each other about parenthood. Papyrus filled Frisk in on everything that was happening in the Underground and peppered him with questions about life on the Surface. Frisk answered them as best he could, knowing how excited all the monsters and humans in his group were about it. Just as he was sure he couldn't recount another detail of the world above, they reached the bridge to Hotland.

"The royal lab should be up ahead," Undyne told them. Excitement was clear in her voice.

"Yup, and the lovely Alphys," Dustin added with a grin. Undyne kept walking. "Right now it's all just a matter of which one of them is going to compose herself enough to propose," Dustin whispered to Frisk. "My bet is on Undyne. Papyrus thinks that, too. Rafe, on the other hand, won't tell us who he thinks is going to go first, but-" He quickly shut up as the great metal door to the lab opened.

"Alphys!" Undyne greeted her.

"H-Hey guys!" the lizard-like monster stuttered. "Um, I w-wasn't expecting this much company. The lab's a little messy, but um, yeah, come on in. I'll go get, um, yeah." She sped off for the door to the elevator.

"Wait, why are you going to-" Frisk started to ask, but the door had already shut in front of Alphys. "Is there something new down in the True Lab?" he asked, confused. Maybe she was freeing the Amalgmates? Was there another mystery of the old laboratory that he didn't know about?

"Oh! Uh, hi, everybody." A human teenage girl had just come off the escalator and was staring at the group, confused. "Can I help you?" she asked, pushing her glasses up from where they had slid down her nose. "Oh, Undyne, I just saw Alphys a minute ago, if you're looking for her."

"We saw her," said Frisk, "but then she went down the elevator."

The girl put a hand over her mouth and dropped the book she was holding in her surprise. "Oh my gosh. I can't believe I totally forgot Gaster was still down there." She doubled over laughing. "Oh my gosh! We were totally just about to leave without him! That would have been so embarrassing!" She fell into complete hysterics.

"I'm really confused," muttered Frisk. "Didn't Gaster fall into the Core?"

The girl stopped laughing. "Fell into the Core? Gosh, I don't know what timeline you've been living in, but our good old royal scientist hasn't fallen into any Cores lately. He came pretty close that one time, I guess," she frowned, "but I'll be there to pull him out again and now we've got Alphys to help, too."

"that's assuming you don't forget about him again," grinned Sans.

"Forget about who?" A tall skeleton in a black lab coat stepped out of the elevator in front of Alphys.

"KATHY WAS JUST TALKING TO US. ARE YOU READY TO GO, DAD?"

"Now that I am no longer thoroughly engrossed in my experiments, yes, I am ready. Tibia honest, I am beginning to consider studying why I would rather look through old data charts than see the sun."

Sans and Dustin chuckled. Frisk nudged Papyrus. "Gaster does puns, too?" he asked, amazed.

"WELL, SANS INHERITED IT FROM SOMEWHERE. THANK GOODNESS HE DOESN'T DO IT ALL THE TIME. I DON'T THINK I COULD STAND IT IF THAT WAS THE CASE."

"Guys, Ianna just texted me." Alphys held up her phone. "She says she and Napstablook'll wait for us at the MTT Resort but Mettaton promised he'd do a live show for the monsters waiting at the barrier so he has to go."

Ianna turned out to be the blue soul of integrity, a prim woman who starred in a popular dance show that played on Mettaton's entertainment channel. Napstablook worked behind the scenes as the music director for his cousin. The human and the ghost monster were waiting for them at Mettaton's fancy hotel, as promised.

"Your friends certainly know how to do glamour," remarked Frisk's mother as she examined a sparkly burger.

"That's just Mettaton," said Frisk. "And believe me, you haven't seen anything until you see his EX form."

"He is planning on revealing that at his show today." Ianna informed them. "Come, let us go see him. Even Burgerpants has left, so take that as a sign that we are incredibly late."

Pretty much every monster that Frisk remembered plus several ones he didn't know were milling around outside of the castle, excitement buzzing through the air as all waited for the barrier to be taken down. Undyne led her group past the canine guards Dogamy and Dogaressa, Ann taking a moment to chat with her neighbors about organizing a play date between Zoe and their new puppies. Then they all crammed themselves into one of the many elevators carrying monsters up into the castle.

"This place is jam packed," muttered Frisk. He could hardly push through the crowd of monsters filling the judgement hall, even with them trying to get as far away from Grillby's flaming head as possible. Somehow, Frisk, his mom, and their monster and human traveling companions managed to reach Asgore's flower garden.

It looked the same as ever, except that Toriel's throne was next to her husband's instead of under a sheet and that there were two other chairs next to the royal pair. That was next to nothing in interest compared to who was sitting in the chairs.

"Asriel! Chara! You're _adults_!" Frisk exclaimed. Sure he had known that a decent amount of time had passed since he had done that reverse reset, but actually seeing its effect was a whole other level of strange.

"Frisk! It's actually you!" Asriel and Chara got up to embrace their old friend. "It's been twenty years and you haven't aged a day!" exclaimed Chara. He was barely recognizable as the pink cheeked kid who had promised to stay away from knives the last time that Frisk had seen him. Asriel, too, had matured. His horns were long and pointed like his father's and he resembled a softer version of his God of Hyperdeath form.

"Oh yeah! I need to give this back to you!" Asriel searched his pocket and pulled out the heart locket that Frisk hadn't been able to take with him to the future. "It's a bit silly now that we aren't kids anymore, but hey, there are always the memories."

"Thanks," Frisk smiled. "Really, it means a lot." He fastened it around his neck. "We've got a lot of catching up to do," he remarked.

"Eh, you didn't miss that much," shrugged Chara. "Don't worry, we'll fill ya in on everything. First, though, Mom and Dad probably want to see you. I'll get them and then I'm sure we'll all do a bunch of introductions and stuff." He winked and headed towards the door to the barrier room.

"So, is there anything special we're supposed to do when we meet the king and queen?" Frisk's mother asked.

"Nah. For all the legends say about the terrifying threat of monsters, they're pretty laid back."

The door opened and Chara returned with Asgore, Toriel, and a human girl. The king and queen of the monsters looked older than Frisk remembered them to be, but he suspected that was due to what Gerson had told him about boss monsters aging when they had children.

"What a pleasant surprise it is to see you here, child." Toriel smiled warmly.

"We were actually just about to break the barrier," said Asgore. "Now that we have all the soul power we need, we were thinking about meeting you up on the Surface, but it seems you fell down anyway."

"Well, we're glad we came," said Frisk's mother.

"Oh yeah, introductions," remembered Frisk. "Asgore, Toriel, this is my mom. Mom, these are the king and queen of the monsters."

They shook hands and started talking. Frisk stood off to the side and watched the barrier past the open door turn from black to white to black again. "I don't get this magicy stuff, either," said the human girl, noticing what he was looking at. "I'm Jenelle, by the way. I just fell down here yesterday, but I'm still barely past the fact that the legends are real. It's pretty crazy learning that monsters not only exist, but that they're nice, too."

"I guess." Talking to a person who had almost died in his place was just as strange as talking to an adult Asriel or Chara. And yet here they were. She was thinking the same things he had the first time he had done a run through the Underground. "Yeah, they're all really nice and cool."

"How long have you known them?" asked Jenelle. "I mean, at first I thought you'd just fallen down today but you seem to know everybody here."

"It's pretty complicated."

"I just learned that a bunch of fairy stories are real. I think I can take it."

"I fell down here before you, made friends with everybody, and then saved them."

"Um, how did you save them if they're still here?"

Frisk sighed. "I told you it's pretty complicated." He launched into his tale. "I was friends with everybody and we were all happy on the Surface, and then I got bored. I had everything, but instead of trying to make the most of it, I started doing the same things day after day and so of course I got bored. I decided that the only solution was to use I power I didn't even understand and reset time to the moment I had first fallen. Nobody remembered me and I got to go on the whole adventure all over again. Of course, that took me back to the Surface and I got bored again. I wanted another reset. I was going to wipe everybody's memories of me and have them fill roles again like puppets or toys. I don't even know why I bothered calling myself their friend after how I was treating them. I acted really stupid and selfish and I ended up messing everything up. Then I heard that you had fallen in my place and let yourself die for the monsters I called my friends but was such a jerk to go free. I finally realized what kind of a person I was being and how easily my runs through the Underground could have ended in sadness."

He smiled sadly. "After I realized that, I got attacked and had to reset again. I ended up back at some time before I was even born and I didn't think I'd ever get home. I did, though, and I helped save some of my friends, too. Then I reverse reset to the present, fell down with my mom, and got here. I'm glad I'm not some big hero who saves everybody all by himself anymore. I don't like being above my friends."

Jenelle was quiet for a moment. "That certainly was quite a story," she finally said. "I think I understand why you reset. Having that much power makes it hard not to want to use it. That doesn't mean that you should go off and use it on a whim, though."

"Yeah, I think I learned my lesson on this one. We're all too happy for me to be stupid and take it away again. There's no way I'm resetting again."

"Well, you better have learned," she chuckled. "Especially after all this."

They watched the other humans and monsters in the room converse with one another. "I guess we'll be breaking the barrier soon," said Frisk.

"Good. I already miss home and I've only been here one day. Can you even imagine how everyone else is feeling?

"It's definitely exciting," Frisk agreed.

As if summoned by those words, a monster jogged into the garden. "I don't mean to interrupt," he said, "but the crowd is getting restless. Perhaps we should start now?" Asgore and Toriel nodded. It didn't seem like a good idea to keep every monster in the Underground waiting and besides, they were as excited as everybody else.

For Frisk, most of the ceremony was a blur. He remembered that there was a lot of cheering and a lot of light and then he was sitting with a headache from the drained energy and with a hot cup of tea and getting concern and thanks and telling his friends that he was fine and that they should go enjoy the sunlight because they had waited long enough for it. Then the other humans started talking about finding their families and the monsters started talking about finding homes and gradually everyone started leaving.

His mom called Jenelle's parents and they found out that she lived on the other side of town. Frisk promised Papyrus a tour of the neighborhood for the next day. Alphys and Undyne went off to see the beach together. Reunions happened. Temporary goodbyes were said.

Frisk remembered half wakling and half being carried to his house. He remembered flopping down on his bed and he remembered saying goodnight to his mother and Toriel, not even certain whether or not it was actually nighttime. At any rate, it was a day well spent and tomorrow promised to be eventful as well. And even if he did get bored, he wasn't going to reset. There were other solutions he could try, probably not as interesting as going on a magical adventure, but pressing that button wasn't worth putting everybody's happiness in jeopardy again. He had promised Flowey he wouldn't reset and then gone back on his word, but knowing the consequences made this seem a lot different. There was no reason to go back to the past when there was a present to live in and a future to plan for. He stared up at his bedroom ceiling and smiled. "I won't reset," he promised. He was determined to keep it.

 **Well, that's the end. I hope you enjoyed reading it. I certainly had fun writing it.**

 **There's a quick post story speech I'd like to give. Finishing this, I have another story that isn't about Undertale that I'm working on. I am going to complete it or at least get a few more chapters of it done before I start writing another Undertale story. I have a few ideas for possible fanfics of it and so I'll see which one inspires me enough to turn into something. I might even try to write a romance (and probably make a cringe-tactic mess because I've never written a love story before). Anyway, I hope you enjoyed this story and this Frisk better not reset again (I doubt he will after all that's happened). Have a lovely day! =)**


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